Detroit Pistons coach John Loyer talks to his team during the second half against the New York Knicks in Auburn Hills on March 3, 2014. / Associated Press

Written by

Dan Feldman

Detroit Free Press Special Writer

Dan Feldman writes for the Detroit Pistons blog PistonPowered. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. PistonPowered writers will contribute a column every Friday at freep.com/pistons. Contact Dan anytime at pistonpowered@gmail.com or on Twitter @pistonpowered.

There was no 0-8 start like last season, no 4-20 start like the season prior, no 0-5 start like the season before that and no 5-11 start like the season before that one.

For months, the 2013-14 Pistons could at least claim progress from the last four years, the dismal John Kuester-Lawrence Frank seasons.

No more.

Their winning percentage (.373) has slipped below Frank’s first season (.379). If the Pistons lose their next two games — the expected outcome at the Phoenix Suns and at the Los Angeles Clippers — it also will drop below Kuester’s second season (.366).

This isn’t rock bottom. It’s just more of the same.

The Pistons have turned stale. What was supposed to be an athletic and intriguing mix of talent has two defining characteristics: bad shots and scrambled defense. Even the promise of Andre Drummond has taken a back seat to all the losing.

And if the Pistons are tanking in any form, it’s barely an excuse. Before any tanking theory became at all plausible, the Pistons already were losing, and their second-half schedule was always going to be more challenging. They definitely entered this season trying to win, and any tanking plans came into place after winning became futile anyway.

Soon, the Pistons will be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs for the fifth straight season. They’re already experiencing the longest playoff drought since 1977-78 through 1982-83, which also was their last stretch of six straight losing seasons.

At this point, reaching the level of the 2008-09 team, which finished 39-43 but made the playoffs, would be significant progress. However, that team was the NBA’s fourth-oldest (weighted by playing time). This year’s squad is the league’s sixth-youngest.

With Drummond, Greg Monroe, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Singler and maybe even Brandon Jennings, the Pistons have better positioned themselves for the future.

But the present stinks just as much as usual.

In the previous four years, just five teams — the Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards, Minnesota Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings — haven’t experienced a single winning season. The Raptors, Wizards and Timberwolves all have winning records this year, though.

That leaves just the Pistons and Kings, battling in ineptitude.

However, Sacramento’s streak of losing seasons actually dates back eight years. So congratulations, Pistons, on that.

Can things get better soon enough? Absolutely. Will they? I think so.

But it’s time to acknowledge that the Pistons’ losing culture remains just as strong as it was the last four years. There has been no progress on that front.